Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) Transport for London, and (2) Network Rail, regarding the use of contactless payment points at Gatwick Airport Railway Station; and whether those discussions were informed by data on the number of people who incur a penalty fare due to not tapping out at the end of their journey.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Contactless pay as you go continues to be offered to customers travelling between Gatwick Airport and London allowing customers to use either a contactless card, mobile device or an Oyster card to pay for their journey. There have been no recent discussions between the Department and Network Rail or Transport for London on the use of contactless payments at Gatwick Airport Railway Station.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential shortage of gritter drivers in winter 2021–22; and what plans they have to address any such shortage.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Section 41(1A) of the Highways Act 1980 places a duty on local authorities to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice. It is the local authority’s responsibility to ensure that there are adequate drivers available to carry out gritting.
Alongside the interventions that Government has made to mitigate any possible HGV driver shortage, the DfT is working closely with local authorities and stakeholder bodies such as ADEPT and will be monitoring the capacity of local authorities with respect to driver numbers over the winter period.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the declaration form for international travel from England does not allow a British citizen to provide an overseas address.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The travel declaration form is designed for the passenger to state who they are and why they are departing England to travel overseas. The details on the form including the address are not captured or recorded centrally. If a police officer has a reasonable belief that a passenger is travelling without a reasonable excuse, a separate process of issuing a Fixed Penalty Notice is commenced which includes recording the residential address of the passenger for enforcement purposes.
We will amend the way the address is requested on the form to make it easier to complete for passengers with non-UK addresses.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the permissible reasons for UK citizens to travel internationally while the restrictions to address the COVID-19 pandemic are in place.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As the Prime Minister said in his statement on 27 January, under the stay at home regulations it is illegal to leave home to travel abroad for leisure purposes.
The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (England) Regulations 2020 set out the legally permitted reasons to leave home, and therefore travel internationally. These reasons include compassionate visits, where one is visiting someone who is dying, or for essential work purposes.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide funding support to Eurostar following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on passenger numbers.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
I am aware the international rail sector, as with other sectors, continues to face significant challenges in terms of passenger demand.
Ministers and officials, working with other Government Departments, have engaged very regularly with Eurostar since March 2020 in relation to their financial situation. This has included supporting the company to access support schemes, where eligible and appropriate, as part of the unprecedented package of financial support for businesses that has been made available by the Chancellor.
As is the case with businesses in other sectors, officials continue to engage very closely with Eurostar as we support the safe restart and recovery of international travel.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to accelerate safe travel through UK airports, including through testing and use of other technology.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has introduced mandatory pre-departure testing for international travellers to England from outside the Common Travel Area. Persons arriving in England from 04:00 on Monday 18 January must comply with the new requirement.
Travellers must take a test no more than 3 days prior to departure to England, and will only be permitted to travel if they have proof of a negative result. This action helps to protect fellow travellers from the risk of transmission of Coronavirus during travel itself.
All other border measures, such as completing the passenger locator form and the requirement to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival (or 5 days with test to release), remain in place, and must be adhered to regardless of the pre-departure test result.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to conduct additional road maintenance while there are restrictions in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Responsibility for managing the highway network in England, including maintenance decisions, rests with the relevant highway authority. For the Strategic Road Network, motorways and major A roads, that is Highways England. The rest of the network is managed by local highway authorities. It is for local highway authorities to decide whether to carry out additional maintenance, based on local needs and priorities.
In April 2020 I wrote to the local highways maintenance sector, with advice on continuing with their highways maintenance works and thanking them for their efforts. The Government’s current policy is that construction activity should continue where it can be undertaken safely, in accordance with the Public Health England and industry guidance.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to other governments about the use of technology to provide safe international travel without the need for quarantine.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is in regular contact with our international partners, bilaterally and through international forums, to discuss a range of approaches to support safe international travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Government is keen to learn from our international partners, and to explore systems and testing measures that other countries put in place. We will also look closely at emerging technology and evidence that supports reducing restrictions on travel.
To reduce the period of self-isolation, the ‘Test to Release for International Travel’ scheme has been announced and will come into force on 15 December. These arrangements allow for anyone arriving in England to pay for a private test on the fifth day of self-isolation and exit self-isolation if the result is negative.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any additional costs to shipping companies that will be incurred from the end of the transition period for the UK's departure from the EU.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of shipping to global trade and to trade between the UK and EU. The Government continues to engage closely with the shipping sector on the range of changes brought by the end of the transition period. Some of these changes will depend not only on our future trading relations with the European Union but also with the rest of the world. Due to this and the fact that shipping often has complex ownership arrangements, we do not have a unified assessment of the additional costs to all shipping companies. We will continue working closely with the sector to assess and advise on these changes.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the end of the transition period for the UK's departure from the EU on 31 December, what progress they have made on issuing 90,000 new driver permits.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK has an allocation of up to 1668 annual and 5040 short-term ECMT permits available for 2021.
It is not the Government’s intention to rely solely on ECMT permits for market access.
ECMT permits would only ever be used to supplement wider market access arrangements, either under an EU-wide agreement or a series of bilateral agreements with EU Member States.
An application window for ECMT permits was open from 2 November 2020 until 20 November 2020. Permits have not yet been allocated; we will take account of the latest negotiations before doing so.